Anger is loaded with information and energy.
Audre Lorde
Dear reader,
This issue seeks to perform a chromatography of anger, showcasing its intersections with other emotions and social dispositions. We attempt to defend & redefine anger that may otherwise be shunned/stunted in “polite” society. How often must we restrain our rage to accommodate the “legitimate” anger of another? Can all of our fury be contained in a clenched fist that never gets thrown? RAGE illuminates & indicts the very power matrices that allow a privileged few to express their anger without condemnation, criticism, or consequence.
In our lifetime, we watch the world end. We continue to watch, naive to the finality of endings — unconvinced of the multiple truths, contradictory origins, and simultaneous endings. Let’s be clear: the world has always been ending. The world has been ending in Palestine, the Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Cameroon, Mauritania, Venezuela, Lebanon, Mali, and the timeline of ending continues to be manipulated for “simplicity’s sake.” We know better, I hope. While many consider this to be the first time the so-called First World has felt the boomerang effect of its conquests, too many of us know, intimately, the consequences of its corruption and greed.
These artists point to rage not to accuse it of impoliteness, but to showcase the evidence of what fucked up thing summoned it into being. Their rage is quiet, loud, rough around the edges, verbose, clipped, a combination of the aforementioned, and most importantly – VALID.
Too many of us know the backhand of the invisible one and the social, psychological, and financial debts we are coerced into paying back AND forward. The unmistakable evidence of carceral capitalism is fashioned in tax breaks for the wealthy, exorbitant fines for the poor, bullshit borders, unlivable wages, the “impossibility” of gun control, prejudiced & profit-motivated policing, headlines to distract, headlines to defend & normalize.
We have witnessed violence in the form of eviction slips and slurs spun on skinny lips. We are familiar with violence and its many shapes, skins, and decibels. Reader, aren’t you angry, too?
Our anger does not make us monsters or aggressors. Our anger symptomizes our hurt. Our anger is evidence of the injustices we have faced & bear witness to.
It has been an honor to uplift these contributors and hold space for their testimonies. I am grateful to the good folks at MQR for making this Mixtape Issue possible: Khaled Mattawa, Elinam Agbo, and Aaron Stone.
To you, the readers – I’m glad you arrived here and I hope you find something worthy to add to your own arsenal of anger. Spray ‘em!
With love & rage,
Sahara Sidi
Sahara Sidi is a Mauritanian-American writer & educator. Her writing is published/forthcoming in Salt Hill Journal, The Offing, Chestnut Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She received her MFA from the University of Michigan — Helen Zell Writers’ Program. Connect with her on Venmo: @Sahara-Sidi.